Mobile terminal and application icon moving method thereof

ABSTRACT

A mobile terminal and an application icon moving method thereof are provided. When a predetermined application icon is selected from a menu screen including a plurality of application icons and moved to a control region, a default home screen or the whole home screen stored in a memory may be selectively displayed according to a moved position of the corresponding icon, and also an icon-insertable position may be visually guided on the displayed home screen. This may allow a user to execute the movement of the application icon in an easy, convenient manner.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. §119(a), this application claims the benefit ofearlier filing date and right of priority to Korean Application No.10-2012-0097911, filed on Sep. 4, 2012, the contents of which isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

1. Field of the Disclosure

This specification relates to a mobile terminal capable of facilitatingexecution an icon movement through an intuitive UI, and an applicationicon moving method thereof.

2. Background of the Disclosure

Mobile terminals (or electronic devices) may be configured to performvarious functions, for example, data and voice communication, capturingimages or video, storing voice, reproducing music files via a speakersystem, displaying images or video and the like. Some of mobileterminals may include an additional function of playing games, and othermobile terminals may be implemented as multimedia players. In addition,in recent time, mobile terminals can receive broadcast or multicastsignals to allow viewing of video or television programs.

Furthermore, many efforts are undergoing to support or enhance variousfunctions of such mobile terminals. Such many efforts include not onlychanges and improvement of structural components implementing a mobileterminal but also software or hardware improvement. Among others, atouch function of the mobile terminal may allow users, who areunfamiliar to a button/key input, to conveniently execute operations ofthe terminal using a touch screen. In recent time, the touch function issimply used as an input function, and has also become an importantfunction of the terminal together with a user interface UI.

In general, when a mobile terminal is powered on, a preset home screenmay be displayed on a screen. At least one home screen may be generatedaccording to users' needs. One home screen selected by a user isgenerally displayed as wallpaper. The at least one home screen may bechanged according to a home screen profile defined by the user (forexample, task, financial, etc.) or according to a user's page turn input(for example, a navigation key or a touch input) when the home screen isarranged in a page form.

At least one widget may be displayed (registered) in form of an icon onthe at least one home screen. This may allow a user to convenientlyexecute a desirable application by selecting a specific icon. The widgeticon (hereinafter, referred to an ‘icon’) displayed on the home screenmay be generated according to attributes (position, transparency, size,shape, etc.) of a display through menus, or automatically generatedbased on preset attributes when a predetermined application is installedby a user.

The icon displayed on the home screen may be changeable, namely, moving,adding, deleting, combining and the like. Among others, the iconmovement may include a position movement within the home screen, andmovement from a full application screen (menu screen) into the homescreen.

The user may apply a long touch onto an icon to be moved first, in orderto move the icon from the full application screen (menu screen) to thehome screen. In response to the long touch to the icon, the fullapplication screen (menu screen) may disappear and a user-preset homescreen may be displayed. The user may check an empty space of the homescreen, directly move an icon, which the user desires to move) to adesired position to be arranged (inserted) thereon, and complete theicon movement.

However, when the long touch is applied to a predetermined icon desiredto move, one home screen selected by the user among a plurality of homescreens generated by the user, namely, a default home screen may bedisplayed. Therefore, when a specific icon is desired to be moved toanother home screen as well as a user-selected home screen so as to bealigned (arranged, inserted) thereon, each home screen has to beselected one by one and thereafter the movement and alignment has to beexecuted individually for each home screen, which causes the user'sinconvenience.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Therefore, an aspect of the detailed description is to provide a mobileterminal, capable of easily executing an icon movement from a fullapplication screen (menu) to a home screen and an icon edition on thehome screen, and an application icon moving method thereof.

Another aspect of the detailed description is to provide a mobileterminal, capable of providing a user interface (UI) for easilyexecuting an icon movement from a full application screen (menu) to ahome screen and an icon edition on the home screen, and an applicationicon moving method thereof.

To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purposeof this specification, as embodied and broadly described herein, thereis provided an application icon moving method for a mobile terminalincluding displaying a menu screen including a plurality of applicationicons, moving a predetermined application icon to a control region, thepredetermined application icon selected from the menu screen accordingto a user's touch input, selectively displaying a default home screen orthe whole home screen on a home screen edition screen according to amoved position of the application icon within the control region, andarranging the application icon moved into the control region on thedefault home screen or the whole home screen.

The specific icon selected may be at least one icon, and the selected atleast one icon may be connected in a form of chain so as to be movedsimultaneously.

The home screen edition screen may be displayed when the predeterminedapplication icon is long touched and then dragged to the control regionlocated on a lower portion of the menu screen.

The selectively displaying of the default home screen or the whole homescreen may include displaying the whole home screen when thepredetermined application icon is moved to a first area within thecontrol region, the first area displaying a home button, and displayingthe default home screen when the predetermined application icon is movedto a second area within the control region, the second area displayingother buttons except for the home button.

The method may further include displaying a candidate position, in whichthe predetermined application icon is to be inserted, within each homescreen.

The candidate position may have predetermined shape and size and bedisplayed with being highlighted.

The candidate position may be displayed on one home screen or the wholehome screen according to user setting or displayed when a partial areaof a home screen is magnified.

The candidate position displayed on the one home screen may be displayedon a home screen selected by the user, and the candidate positiondisplayed on the whole home screen may be displayed in an activated ordeactivated state so as to be state-changed according to a user input.

The application icon may be arranged within a home screen in a draggingor flicking manner, or automatically arranged by being rolled into ahome screen according to an inclination of the mobile terminal.

To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purposeof this specification, as embodied and broadly described herein, thereis provided a mobile terminal including a display configured to displaya menu screen, a memory configured to store at least one home screen,and a controller configured to automatically display a default homescreen or the whole home screen on a home screen edition screenaccording to a moved position of a predetermined application icon whenthe application icon is selected from the menu screen and moved into acontrol region.

The specific icon selected may be at least one icon, and the selected atleast one icon may be connected in a form of chain so as to be movedsimultaneously.

The controller may convert the menu screen into the home screen editionscreen when the predetermined application icon is long touched and thendragged to the control region located on a lower portion of the menuscreen.

The controller may display the whole home screen when the predeterminedapplication icon is moved to a first area for displaying a home buttonwithin the control region, and display the default home screen when thepredetermined application icon is moved to a second area for displayingother buttons except for the home button within the control region.

The controller may display a candidate position, in which thepredetermined application icon is to be inserted, within at least onehome screen when home screens are displayed on the home screen editionscreen. The candidate position may have predetermined shape and size andbe displayed with being highlighted.

The controller may display the candidate position within one home screenor the whole home screen according to a user-selected displaying methodor display the candidate position when a partial area of a home screenis magnified.

The controller may display the candidate position on a home screen everytime the home screen is selected by the user.

The controller may display the candidate position in an activated ordeactivated state within the whole home screen, and automatically removethe other candidate positions when the icon movement to a predeterminedcandidate position is decided.

The icon moved to the control region may be arranged within a homescreen in a dragging or flicking manner, or automatically arranged bybeing rolled into the home screen according to an inclination of themobile terminal.

Further scope of applicability of the present application will becomemore apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However,it should be understood that the detailed description and specificexamples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the disclosure, aregiven by way of illustration only, since various changes andmodifications within the spirit and scope of the disclosure will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate exemplary embodiments andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of thedisclosure.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a mobile terminal in accordance with oneexemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a communication system operable with amobile terminal in accordance with one exemplary embodiment;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are views illustrating a conception of moving an iconfrom a full application screen (menu screen) to a home screen accordingto the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a view illustrating one embodiment of a home screen which isdisplayed when a plurality of icons are moved into a first area within acontrol region;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are views illustrating a first exemplary embodiment ofan application icon moving method in accordance with the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 6 is a view illustrating a second exemplary embodiment of anapplication icon moving method in accordance with the presentdisclosure;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are views illustrating a third exemplary embodiment ofan application icon moving method in accordance with the presentdisclosure;

FIGS. 8A and 8B are views illustrating a fourth exemplary embodiment ofan application icon moving method in accordance with the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 9 is a view illustrating a fifth exemplary embodiment of anapplication icon moving method in accordance with the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 10 is a view illustrating a sixth exemplary embodiment of anapplication icon moving method in accordance with the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an application icon moving method inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

Description will now be given in detail of preferred configurations ofmobile terminals according to the present invention, with reference tothe accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, suffixes “module” and “unit orportion” for components used herein in description are merely providedonly for facilitation of preparing this specification, and thus they arenot granted a specific meaning or function. Hence, it should be noticedthat “module” and “unit or portion” can be used together.

Mobile terminals may be implemented using a variety of different typesof terminals. Examples of such terminals include mobile terminals, suchas mobile phones, smart phones, notebook computers, digital broadcastterminals, Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), Portable MultimediaPlayers (PMP), navigators and the like, and stationary terminals, suchas digital TVs, desktop computers and the like. The followingdescription assumes that the terminal is a mobile terminal. However, itcan be easily understood by those skilled in the art that theconfiguration according to the following description can be applied tothe stationary terminals except for components particularly provided formobility.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a mobile terminal in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

The mobile terminal 100 may comprise components, such as a wirelesscommunication unit 110, an Audio/Video (A/V) input unit 120, a userinput unit 130, a sensing unit 140, an output unit 150, a memory 160, aninterface unit 170, a controller 180, a power supply 190 and the like.FIG. 1 shows the mobile terminal 100 having various components, but itis understood that implementing all of the illustrated components is nota requirement. Greater or fewer components may alternatively beimplemented.

Hereinafter, each component is described in sequence.

The wireless communication unit 110 may typically include one or morecomponents which permit wireless communications between the mobileterminal 100 and a wireless communication system or between the mobileterminal 100 and a network within which the mobile terminal 100 islocated. For example, the wireless communication unit 110 may include abroadcast receiving module 111, a mobile communication module 112, awireless internet module 113, a short-range communication module 114, aposition location module 115 and the like.

The broadcast receiving module 111 receives a broadcast signal and/orbroadcast associated information from an external broadcast managingentity via a broadcast channel. Examples of broadcast associatedinformation may include information associated with a broadcast channel,a broadcast program, a broadcast service provider, and the like. Thebroadcast signal may be implemented as a TV broadcast signal, a radiobroadcast signal, and a data broadcast signal, among others. Thebroadcast signal may further include a data broadcast signal combinedwith a TV or radio broadcast signal.

The broadcast associated information may be provided via a mobilecommunication network, and received by the mobile communication module112.

The broadcast associated information may be implemented in variousformats. For instance, broadcast associated information may includeElectronic Program Guide (EPG) of Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB),Electronic Service Guide (ESG) of Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld(DVB-H), and the like.

The broadcast receiving module 111 may be configured to receive digitalbroadcast signals transmitted from various types of broadcast systems.Such broadcast systems may include Digital MultimediaBroadcasting-Terrestrial (DMB-T), Digital MultimediaBroadcasting-Satellite (DMB-S), Media Forward Link Only (MediaFLO),Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld (DVB-H), Integrated Services DigitalBroadcast-Terrestrial (ISDB-T), and the like. The broadcast receivingmodule 111 may be configured to be suitable for every broadcast systemtransmitting broadcast signals as well as the digital broadcastingsystems.

Broadcast signals and/or broadcast associated information received viathe broadcast receiving module 111 may be stored in a suitable device,such as a memory 160.

The mobile communication module 112 transmits/receives wireless signalsto/from at least one of network entities (e.g., base station, anexternal mobile terminal, a server, etc.) on a mobile communicationnetwork. Here, the wireless signals may include audio call signal, videocall signal, or various formats of data according totransmission/reception of text/multimedia messages.

The wireless internet module 113 supports wireless Internet access forthe mobile terminal. This module may be internally or externally coupledto the mobile terminal. Examples of such wireless Internet access mayinclude Wireless LAN (WLAN), Wi-Fi, Wireless Broadband (Wibro), WorldInteroperability for Microwave Access (Wimax), High Speed DownlinkPacket Access (HSDPA), and the like.

The short-range communication module 114 denotes a module forshort-range communications. Suitable technologies for implementing thismodule may include BLUETOOTH, Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID),Infrared Data Association (IrDA), Ultra-WideBand (UWB), ZigBee, NearField Communication (NFC) and the like. Short-range communicationrelated modules for user account, in addition to those short-rangecommunication modules, may employ a method proposed in the presentdisclosure.

The position location module 115 denotes a module for detecting orcalculating a position of a mobile terminal. An example of the positionlocation module 115 may include a Global Position System (GPS) module.Under the current technique, the GPS module can measure accurate timeand distance respectively from more than three satellites so as toaccurately calculate a current position of the mobile terminal based onsuch three different distances according to a triangulation scheme. Ascheme may be used to obtain time information and distance informationfrom three satellites and correct error by one satellite. Also, the GPSmodule may continuously calculate a current position in real time so asto obtain speed information.

The A/V input unit 120 is configured to provide audio or video signalinput to the mobile terminal. The A/V input unit 120 may include acamera 121 and a microphone 122. The camera 121 receives and processesimage frames of still pictures or video obtained by image sensors in avideo call mode or a capturing mode. The processed image frames may bedisplayed on a display 151.

The image frames processed by the camera 121 may be stored in the memory160 or transmitted to the exterior via the wireless communication unit110. Two or more cameras 121 may be provided according to theconfiguration of the mobile terminal.

The microphone 122 may receive an external audio signal via a microphonewhile the mobile terminal is in a particular mode, such as a phone callmode, a recording mode, a voice recognition mode, or the like. Thisaudio signal is processed into digital data. The processed digital datais converted for output into a format transmittable to a mobilecommunication base station via the mobile communication module 112 incase of the phone call mode. The microphone 122 may include assortednoise removing algorithms to remove noise generated in the course ofreceiving the external audio signal.

The user input unit 130 may generate input data inputted by a user tocontrol the operation of the mobile terminal. The user input unit 130may include a keypad, a dome switch, a touchpad (e.g., staticpressure/capacitance), a jog wheel, a jog switch and the like. Aspecific example can be one in which the touchpad is layered with thedisplay 151 to be explained later so as to be in cooperation with thedisplay 151, which is referred to as a touch screen.

The sensing unit 140 provides status measurements of various aspects ofthe mobile terminal. For instance, the sensing unit 140 may detect anopen/close status of the mobile terminal, a change in a location of themobile terminal 100, a presence or absence of user contact with themobile terminal 100, the location of the mobile terminal 100,acceleration/deceleration of the mobile terminal 100, and the like, soas to generate a sensing signal for controlling the operation of themobile terminal 100. For example, regarding a slide-type mobileterminal, the sensing unit 140 may sense whether a sliding portion ofthe mobile terminal is open or closed. Other examples include sensingfunctions, such as the sensing unit 140 sensing the presence or absenceof power provided by the power supply 190, the presence or absence of acoupling or other connection between the interface unit 170 and anexternal device, and the like. Here, the sensing unit 140 may include aproximity sensor 141, which will be described later in relation to atouch screen.

The sensing unit 140 includes a geomagnetic sensor to calculate a movingdirection when a user moves, a gyro sensor to calculate a rotatingdirection, and an acceleration sensor.

The interface unit 170 is generally implemented to couple the mobileterminal to external devices. The interface unit 170 may include, forexample, wired/wireless headset ports, external charger ports,wired/wireless data ports, memory card ports, ports for coupling deviceshaving an identification module, etc.), audio Input/Output (I/O) ports,video I/O ports, earphone ports, and the like.

The identification module may be configured as a chip for storingvarious information required to authenticate an authority to use themobile terminal 100, which may include a User Identity Module (UIM), aSubscriber Identity Module (SIM), a Universal Subscriber Identity Module(USIM), and the like. Also, the device having the identification module(hereinafter, referred to as ‘identification device’) may be implementedin a type of smart card. Hence, the identification device can be coupledto the mobile terminal 100 via a port. Such interface unit 170 mayreceive data from an external device, or provided with power andaccordingly transfer the received data or power to each component withinthe mobile terminal 100 or transfer data of the mobile terminal 100 toan external device.

Also, the interface unit 170 may serve as a path for power to besupplied from an external cradle to the mobile terminal 100 when themobile terminal 100 is connected to the external cradle or as a path fortransferring various command signals inputted from the cradle by a userto the mobile terminal 100. Such various command signals or powerinputted from the cradle may operate as signals for recognizing that themobile terminal 100 has accurately been mounted to the cradle.

The output unit 150 is configured to output an audio signal, a videosignal or an alarm signal. The output unit 150 may include a display151, an audio output module 152, an alarm 153, and the like.

The display 151 may output information processed in the mobile terminal100. For example, when the mobile terminal is operating in a phone callmode, the display 151 will provide a User Interface (UI) or a GraphicUser Interface (GUI) which includes information associated with thecall.

Meanwhile, as mentioned above, a touch screen can be configured as thedisplay 151 and the touchpad are layered with each other to work incooperation with each other. This configuration permits the display 151to function both as an input device and as an output device. The display151 may be implemented using, for example, a Liquid Crystal Display(LCD), a Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD), anOrganic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED), a flexible display, athree-dimensional (3D) display, or the like. Some of the displays can beconfigured to be transparent such that it is possible to see theexterior therethrough. These displays may be called transparentdisplays. A representative example of the transparent display mayinclude a Transparent Organic Light Emitting Diode (TOLED), and thelike. The mobile terminal 100 may include two or more of such displays151 according to its embodiment. For example, the mobile terminal 100may simultaneously include an external display (not shown) and aninternal display (not shown). The touch screen may be configured so asto detect a touch input pressure as well as touch input position andtouch input area.

The audio output module 152 may output audio data which is received fromthe wireless communication unit 110 in various modes includingcall-receiving mode, call-placing mode, recording mode, voicerecognition mode, broadcast reception mode, and the like, or audio datastored in the memory 160. Also, the audio output module 152 may outputan audio signal relating to a particular function (e.g., call received,message received, etc.) performed in the mobile terminal 100. The audiooutput module 152 may be implemented using a speaker, a buzzer, or thelike.

The alarm unit 153 outputs signals notifying occurrence of events fromthe mobile terminal 100. The events occurring from the mobile terminal100 may include call received, message received, key signal input, touchinput, and so on. The alarm unit 153 may output not only video or audiosignals, but also other types of signals such as signals notifyingoccurrence of events in a vibration manner. When a call signal or amessage is received, the alarm unit 153 may output vibration to make auser recognize the event occurrence. Of course, the signal for notifyingthe event occurrence may be output through the display unit 151 or theaudio output module 152.

The memory 160 may store a program for the processing and control of thecontroller 180. Alternatively, the memory 160 may temporarily storeinput/output data (e.g., phonebook data, messages, still images, videoand the like). Also, the memory 160 may store data related to variouspatterns of vibrations and audio output upon the touch input on thetouch screen.

The memory 160 may be implemented using any type of suitable storagemedium including a flash memory type, a hard disk type, a multimediacard micro type, a memory card type (e.g., SD or DX memory), RandomAccess Memory (RAM), Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Read-OnlyMemory (ROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-only Memory(EEPROM), Programmable Read-only Memory (PROM), magnetic memory,magnetic disk, optical disk, and the like. Also, the mobile terminal 100may operate a web storage which performs the storage function of thememory 160 on the Internet.

The controller 180 typically controls the overall operations of themobile terminal 100. For example, the controller 180 performs thecontrol and processing associated with telephony calls, datacommunications, video calls, and the like. The controller 180 mayinclude a multimedia module 181 which provides multimedia playback. Themultimedia module 181 may be configured as part of the controller 180 oras a separate component.

The controller 180 can perform a pattern recognition processing so as torecognize writing or drawing input on the touch screen as text or image.

The power supply 190 provides power required by various components underthe control of the controller 180. The provided power may be internalpower, external power, or combination thereof.

Various embodiments described herein may be implemented in acomputer-readable medium using, for example, software, hardware, or somecombination thereof.

For a hardware implementation, the embodiments described herein may beimplemented within one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits(ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal ProcessingDevices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field ProgrammableGate Arrays (FPGAs), processors, microprocessors, other electronic unitsdesigned to perform the functions described herein, or a selectivecombination thereof. In some cases, such embodiments are implemented bythe controller 180.

For software implementation, the embodiments such as procedures andfunctions may be implemented together with separate software moduleseach of which performs at least one of functions and operations. Thesoftware codes can be implemented with a software application written inany suitable programming language. Also, the software codes may bestored in the memory 160 and executed by the controller 180.

The mobile terminal 100 shown in FIG. 1 may be configured to operatewithin a communication system which transmits data via frames orpackets, including both wireless and wireline communication systems, andsatellite-based communication systems.

FIG. 2 shows a wireless communication system which is operable with themobile terminal in accordance with the one embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, a wireless communication system is shown having aplurality of mobile terminals 100, a plurality of base stations (BSs)270, base station controllers (BSCs) 275, and a mobile switching center(MSC) 280. The MSC 280 is configured to interface with a conventionalPublic Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) 290. The MSC 280 is alsoconfigured to interface with the BSCs 275. The BSCs 275 are coupled tothe base stations 270 via backhaul lines. The backhaul lines may beconfigured in accordance with any of several known interfaces including,for example, E1/T1, ATM, IP, PPP, Frame Relay, HDSL, ADSL, or xDSL.Hence, the plurality of BSCs 275 can be included in the system as shownin FIG. 2.

Each base station 270 may include one or more sectors, each sectorhaving an omni-directional antenna or an antenna pointed in a particulardirection radially away from the base station 270. Alternatively, eachsector may include two or more different antennas. Each base station 270may be configured to support a plurality of frequency assignments, witheach frequency assignment having a particular spectrum (e.g., 1.25 MHz,5 MHz, etc.).

The intersection of sector and frequency assignment may be referred toas a CDMA channel. The base stations 270 may also be referred to as BaseStation Transceiver Subsystems (BTSs). In some cases, the term “basestation” may be used to refer collectively to a BSC 275, and one or morebase stations 270. The base stations may also be denoted as “cellsites.” Alternatively, individual sectors of a given base station 270may be referred to as cell sites.

A broadcasting transmitter (BT) 295, as shown in FIG. 2, transmits abroadcast signal to the mobile terminals 100 operating within thesystem. The broadcast receiving module 111 (FIG. 1) is typicallyconfigured inside the mobile terminal 100 to receive broadcast signalstransmitted by the BT 295.

FIG. 2 further depicts several Global Positioning System (GPS)satellites 300. Such satellites 300 facilitate locating the position ofat least one of plural mobile terminals 100. Two satellites are depictedin FIG. 2, but it is understood that useful position information may beobtained with greater or fewer satellites than two satellites. The GPSmodule 115 (FIG. 1) is typically configured to cooperate with thesatellites 300 to obtain desired position information. It is to beappreciated that other types of position detection technology, (i.e.,location technology that may be used in addition to or instead of GPSlocation technology) may alternatively be implemented. If desired, atleast one of the GPS satellites 300 may alternatively or additionally beconfigured to provide satellite DMB transmissions.

During typical operation of the wireless communication system, the basestations 270 receive sets of reverse-link signals from various mobileterminals 100. The mobile terminals 100 are engaging in calls,messaging, and executing other communications. Each reverse-link signalreceived by a given base station 270 is processed within that basestation 270. The resulting data is forwarded to an associated BSC 275.The BSC 275 provides call resource allocation and mobility managementfunctionality including the orchestration of soft handoffs between basestations 270. The BSCs 275 also route the received data to the MSC 280,which then provides additional routing services for interfacing with thePSTN 290. Similarly, the PSTN 290 interfaces with the MSC 280, and theMSC 280 interfaces with the BSCs 275, which in turn control the basestations 270 to transmit sets of forward-link signals to the mobileterminals 100.

In general, a home screen is a screen which enhances user convenienceand expresses user's personality using wallpaper which is displayed whena mobile terminal is powered on. At least one application icon (widgeticon) may be registered on each home screen.

The user may generate and store at least one home screen, and thereafterdirectly select and display a particular home screen according to needs,or automatically change the home screen by setting predetermined displayattributes.

However, although the user selects or automatically changes the homescreen in the related art, the user is able to view only one homescreen. Consequently, when the user moves a predetermined applicationicon to a plurality of home screens, the user has to disadvantageouslyselect each home screen one by one and move the corresponding icon.

The present disclosure provides an application icon moving method,capable of moving an application icon (widget icon) located on a fullapplication screen (menu screen) to at least one home screen so as toeasily arrange (insert) the corresponding icon onto the at least onehome screen individually or simultaneously, and a user interface (UI)therefor.

To this end, the present disclosure may selectively provide two types ofhome screen display forms according to a type of input when the inputfor moving an icon has been sensed. The input for moving the icon refersto an operation that a specific icon is long touched and dragged to apredetermined control region (i.e., long touch & drag), and the inputtype refers to a dragged position within the control region.

Also, the two types of home screen display forms may include a defaulthome screen and the whole home screen. The default home screen is onehome screen, which has been selected by a user as wallpaper among allthe home screens generated by the user. The default home screen isalways displayed when the mobile terminal is powered on. The whole homescreen refers to all the number of home screens generated by the user.

According to the two types of home screen display forms, the presentdisclosure may display the whole home screen when a specific iconselected on the full application screen (menu screen) is moved to afirst area of the control region, and display the default home screenwhen the icon is moved to a second area of the control region. This mayallow the user to conveniently execute a home screen edition and an iconedition (for example, moving, deleting, combining, etc.) with respect toone or a plurality of home screens according to needs.

Selective Displaying of Default Home Screen and the Whole Home Screen

FIGS. 3A and 3B are views illustrating a conception of moving an iconfrom a full application screen (menu screen) to a home screen accordingto the present disclosure. Especially, FIG. 3A illustrates an example ofdisplaying the whole home screen upon an icon movement, and FIG. 3Billustrates an example of displaying only one default home screen.

The full application screen (hereinafter, referred to as ‘menu screen’)may include an icon region 50 for displaying a plurality of applicationsicons, and a control region 51 for displaying a home button and otherbuttons (not shown). Therefore, the present disclosure may define aportion where the home screen is displayed on the menu screen as a firstarea 60, and a portion where other buttons are displayed as a secondarea 61. As another exemplary embodiment, the present disclosure may setthe portion whether the other buttons are displayed to first and secondareas in a dividing manner.

Each icon included in the icon region 50 of the menu screen may becomemovable in response to a long touch. A user may sequentially apply along touch to at least one icon so as to make the at least one iconsmovable.

In this state, when an icon in the movable (selected) state is draggedinto the control region 51, the present disclosure may display the wholehome screen or one default home screen according to where thecorresponding icon has been dragged within the control region 51. Thatis, when the icon in the movable state is moved (dragged) to the firstarea 60 of the control region 51, as illustrated in FIG. 4A, the fullapplication screen (menu screen) may be switched into a home screenedition screen 70, and the whole home screen (for example, 5 homescreens) set by the user may be displayed on one side of the home screenedition screen 70.

On the contrary, referring to FIG. 3B, when the icon in the movablestate is moved (dragged) to the second area 61 of the control region 51,the full application screen (menu screen) may be switched into the homescreen edition screen 70, and only one default home screen may bedisplayed on one side of the home screen edition screen 70.

FIG. 4 illustrates one example of the home screen edition screen 70which is displayed when a plurality of icons are moved to the first area60.

Referring to FIG. 4, when a user sequentially applies a long touch to aplurality of icons (for example, first and second icons) to change intoa movable state. The icons in the movable state may be connected in aform of chain. When the user moves (drags) one of the icons in themovable state into the first area 60, another icon may also beautomatically dragged into the first area 60 to be displayed on the homescreen edition screen 70.

Afterwards, the user may move the selected at least one icon to a homescreen that the user wants, to register (insert) the at least one iconin the plurality of home screens simultaneously or individually.Hereinafter, the operation of moving (inserting or arranging) the movedat least one icon into the home screen will be described.

Displaying of Candidate Position for Icon Movement and Icon Movement

A default home screen and the whole home screen have sizes reduced bypredetermined ratios. Therefore, when many icons are included in eachhome screen, it may be difficult to move a selected icon.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are views illustrating a first exemplary embodiment ofan application icon moving method in accordance with the presentdisclosure. The first exemplary embodiment illustrates that ‘default’has been selected as a candidate position searching method in a settingmenu.

As illustrated in FIGS. 5A and 5B, a plurality of home screens may bedisplayed on the home screen edition screen 70. Each home screen mayhave a size decided according to the number of home screens registeredby a user. In general, the home screens may be reduced in size as thenumber of homes screens registered increase. If the size of each homescreen is reduced due to the increase in the number of home screensregistered, it may be difficult to move an icon selected on the menuscreen 50 to a desired position within each home screen.

To overcome the drawback, the present disclosure may allow the user tomove icons more conveniently by visually guiding a candidate position(insertion position) 80, to which an icon is movable within a homescreen, when the whole home screen or a default home screen isdisplayed. A size of the candidate position may be adjustable, and anicon may be displayed to correspond to the adjusted size of thecandidate position.

A method for searching for the candidate position 80 within each homescreen may be decided by a user's menu setting. The menu setting may bedisplayed when a corresponding icon is double touched or a partial areaof a control region 70 b to be explained later is long touched. Thecandidate position 80 may have a predetermined shape, and be displayedwith being highlighted such that the user can easily visually recognizeit. The number of candidate positions 80 may be decided by the number oficons displayed within the control region 70 b.

In accordance with the first exemplary embodiment, the home screenedition screen 70 may be divided into a home screen region 70 a fordisplaying the whole home screen registered, and a control region 70 bfor displaying icons moved from the menu screen 50. A size of thecontrol region 70 b may be adjustable in a touching manner. The homescreen may not always be displayed only on the home screen region 70 a,and may also be displayed even on the control region 70 b when the homescreens increase by a predetermined number. In the control region 70 b,the user may maintain a dragged state from a previous screen or releasethe dragged state (remove a user's finger or hand). That is, even if theuser's hand is removed from the control region 70 b, the movementoperation may not be completed. The movement operation may actually becarried out only when an icon is moved out of the control region 70 b.

When at least one icon is moved (dragged) to the first area 60 by theoperations of FIGS. 4A and 4B, the candidate position 80 may beautomatically displayed on a home screen.

FIG. 5A illustrates a default method set through the setting menu.Various searching methods will be described in detail later. In thedefault method, a home screen on which the candidate position 80 isfirst displayed may be set by a user. FIG. 5A exemplarily illustratesthat the candidate position 80 is displayed on a home screen, which islocated at an uppermost left-hand side. The candidate position 80displayed on the home screen at the uppermost left-hand side may bedisplayed on each home screen when the user drags an icon displayedwithin the control region 70 b in an up-and-down direction and aleft-to-right direction.

Therefore, the user may drag the icon within the control region 70 b inthe up-and-down direction and the left-to-right direction, to recognizethe candidate position 80 of each home screen. Accordingly, the user maymove at least one icon currently displayed within the control region 70b to the recognized candidate position 80.

The method of moving the icon to the candidate position 80 may includemoving the corresponding icon up to the candidate position 80 directlyby the user, automatically moving when the icon is dragged or flickedoutside of the control region 70 b after touching the icon, allowing theicon within the control region 70 b to be automatically rolled into thecandidate position 80 as the mobile terminal is inclined by more than apredetermined angle, and the like. Those methods may also be equallyapplied to the default home screen.

When one or more icons to be moved are displayed within the controlregion 70 b, the one or more icons may be moved into the candidateposition 80 individually or moved in a form of chain by simultaneouslyselecting two or more.

Also, the user may select a specific icon from each home screen, movethe selected icon into the control region 70 b, and thereafter move theicon into another home screen.

The present disclosure may allow for the icon movement between homescreens displayed within the home screen region 70 a as well as themovement of icons within the home screen region 70 a and the controlregion 70 b. The icon movement between the home screens may be achievedby selecting a specific icon displayed on one home screen and moving theicon to another home screen, or be automatically executed upon combiningtwo home screens or deleting a predetermined home screen. Specifically,when two home screens are combined with each other, the icon movementand the icon arrangement may be carried out according to importance of ahome screen, a generated time point (based on the latest home screen),and a dragged sequence (based on a dragged home screen). When apredetermined home screen is deleted, icons included in the deleted homescreen may be automatically moved to a home screen having many emptyspaces or a similar type of home screen.

The home screen to which the icon has been moved may be stored in thememory 160.

An operation of moving an icon moved from the menu screen 50 into eachhome screen by moving the icon within the control region 70 b in fourdirections (up, down, left and right), illustrated in FIG. 5B, is thesame as the operation illustrated in FIG. 5A, except for the position ofthe home screen region 70 a and the control region 70 b.

FIG. 6 is a view illustrating a second exemplary embodiment of anapplication icon moving method in accordance with the presentdisclosure. The second exemplary embodiment illustrates that ‘magnifierfunction’ has been selected as a candidate position searching method ina setting menu.

That is, when a user touches an icon after a magnifier function isselected in the setting menu, a magnification window A may be displayed.A size of the magnification window A may be adjusted directly by theuser in a touching manner, and also automatically adjusted according tothe number of icons to be moved.

The magnification window A may be moved together with a touched iconwhen the icon is moved. During movement, the candidate position 80 towhich the icon is to be moved may be displayed within the magnificationwindow A.

As another exemplary embodiment, after the magnification window A isgenerated, the user may directly move the magnification window A bytouching it. In this case, the icon may also be moved in response to themovement of the magnification window A.

Therefore, the user may move (insert) the icon into a specific homescreen by recognizing the candidate position 80, in which the icon is tobe inserted, within each home screen through the magnification window A,and dropping the corresponding icon onto a desired candidate position80. Upon completion of the icon insertion, the magnification window Amay disappear. If two or more icons are to be inserted, when one icon isinserted, another icon which comes with the one icon (in a form ofchain) may be displayed on the magnification window A. Also, themagnification window A may be deleted by a delete icon, which appears inresponse to a long touch applied onto an edge of the magnificationwindow A.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are views illustrating a third exemplary embodiment ofan application icon moving method in accordance with the presentdisclosure. The third exemplary embodiment illustrates that ‘move icon’has been selected as a candidate position searching method in a settingmenu.

FIG. 7A illustrates an example of searching for the candidate position80 located in four directions (up, down, let and right) by manipulationof left-hand side and right-hand side indicators 90 a and 90 b. When theleft-hand side indicator 90 a is touched, the candidate position 80 maybe displayed sequentially on each home screen from right to left andfrom up to down according to the number of touches. When the right-handside indicator 90 b is touched, the candidate position 80 may bedisplayed sequentially on each home screen from right to left and fromdown to up according to the number of touches.

FIG. 7B illustrates an example of searching for the candidate position80 in an up-and-down or left-to-right direction by manipulation of up,down, left and right indicators. When the up and down indicators 90 c or90 d are touched, the candidate position 80 may be displayedsequentially on an upper or lower home screen according to the number oftouches. When the left-hand side and the right-hand side indicators 90 aor 90 b are touched, the candidate position 80 may be displayed on aleft-hand side or right-hand side home screen according to the number oftouches.

The user may move (insert) the icon in a home screen by recognizing thecandidate position 80, in which the icon is to be inserted, within eachhome screen, and dropping the corresponding icon onto the candidateposition 80.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are views illustrating a fourth exemplary embodiment ofan application icon moving method in accordance with the presentdisclosure. The fourth exemplary embodiment illustrates that ‘displayall the candidate positions’ has been selected as a candidate positionsearching method in a setting menu.

When an icon is located in a home screen edition screen in a state that‘display all the candidate positions’ has been set as the candidateposition searching method in the setting menu or when ‘display allcandidate positions’ has been set as the candidate position searchingmethod in the setting menu in a state that an icon is located in thehome screen edition screen, the candidate position 80 to which the iconis to be movable may be displayed on each home screen.

FIG. 8A illustrates an example that the candidate position 80 isdisplayed in a deactivated state, and FIG. 8B illustrates an examplethat the candidate position 80 is displayed in an activated state. Thesesettings may be selectable from lower (sub) items of the ‘display allthe candidate positions’ in the setting menu.

As illustrated in FIG. 8A, in a state that the candidate position 80 inthe deactivated state is displayed, the user may move an icon to eachdeactivated candidate position 80 simultaneously or sequentiallyaccording to the various moving methods illustrated in FIG. 5A. That is,the user may move the corresponding icon directly to each deactivatedcandidate position 80, or move the icon by dragging or flicking the iconoutside the control region 70 b or allow the icon to be rolled into eachdeactivated candidate position 80 by inclining a lower portion of theterminal.

When the movement of the icon is completed, the user may select aspecific deactivated candidate position, and decide the movement of theicon to the corresponding position. When the movement of the icon hasbeen decided, the candidate positions which remain in the deactivatedstate and the icon may automatically disappear.

As one example, referring to FIG. 8A, with the deactivated candidateposition 80 displayed, the user may sequentially or simultaneously movethe icon to each deactivated candidate position 80 using the variousmoving methods illustrated in FIG. 5A. That is, the user may move thecorresponding icon directly to each deactivated candidate position 80,or move the icon by dragging or flicking the icon outside the controlregion 70 b or allow the icon to be rolled into each deactivatedcandidate position 80 by inclining a lower portion of the terminal.

When the movement of the icon is completed, the user may select aspecific deactivated candidate position, and decide the movement of theicon to the corresponding position. When the movement of the icon hasbeen decided, the candidate positions which remain in the deactivatedstate and the icon may automatically disappear.

As another example, referring to FIG. 8B, with the deactivated candidateposition 80 displayed, the user may sequentially or simultaneously movethe icon to each deactivated candidate position 80 using the variousmoving methods illustrated in FIG. 5A. Here, for moving the same icon toa plurality of candidate positions, the same icon may simultaneously beinserted into the other candidate positions when one icon is draggeddirectly to one candidate position or moved outside the control region70 b or when the terminal is inclined.

FIG. 9 is a view illustrating a fifth exemplary embodiment of anapplication icon moving method in accordance with the presentdisclosure. The fifth exemplary embodiment illustrates that ‘homewindow’ has been selected as a candidate position searching method in asetting menu, namely, an icon is moved according to a type of homewindow.

Referring to FIG. 9, when a finger is taken away in a state that an iconis located on a home screen edition screen, an icon arrangement menu 91may automatically be displayed near the corresponding icon. The iconarrangement menu 91 may include items set based on a state of a homescreen, for example, a similar type, an arrangement sequence, a homescreen with many empty spaces, and the like.

When the user selects a specific item, for example, ‘in sequence’ fromthe icon arrangement menu 91, the icon may be automatically moved toeach candidate position (not shown) of all the home screens in asequential manner to be arranged. Also, when the user selects ‘space’,the icon may be automatically displayed on a home screen with many emptyspaces (based on a predetermined reference).

FIG. 10 is a view illustrating a sixth exemplary embodiment of anapplication icon moving method in accordance with the presentdisclosure. The sixth exemplary embodiment illustrates an icon isarranged by generating a new home screen.

The present disclosure may allow for generating a new home screen on ahome screen edition screen. The foregoing embodiments have illustratedthat the icon is moved to a previously generated (registered) homescreen, but the icon may also be arranged within a new home screen.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, in a state that an icon is located on a homescreen edition screen, when the user drags the icon into an empty spaceof a home screen region and drops the icon onto the empty space, a newhome screen may be generated on the corresponding position and thecorresponding icon may be displayed thereon. The user may easily executethe home screen generation and the icon movement by the series ofoperations.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an application icon moving method inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

In general, a menu screen of the display 151 may include a plurality ofapplication icons. The menu screen may be divided into an icon region 50and a control region 51 for displaying a home button and the like. Inthe present disclosure, a portion where the home button is displayed maybe set to a first area 60, and a portion where other buttons aredisplayed may be set to a second area 61.

In order to move the icon displayed on the menu screen to a home screen,when the user selects at least one icon within the icon region 50 usinga long touch (S10) and then drags the at least one icon to the controlregion 51 (S11), the controller 180 may display the whole home screen orone default home screen according to a determined area to which thecorresponding icon has been dragged (S14 or S16).

That is, the controller 180 may determine whether or not the draggedarea of the corresponding icon is the first area (S12 and S13). When theicon-dragged area is the first area, the controller 180 may open thehome screen edition screen to display all the home screens set(registered) by the user (S14).

Therefore, as aforementioned, the user may move the icon from the homescreen edition screen displaying all the home screens to at least onehome screen and arrange the icon thereon (S15), or execute movement,deletion, combination and generation of the home screen.

On the contrary, when the icon-dragged area is the second area, thecontroller 180 may display the default home screen set by the user onthe home screen edition screen, similar to the related art (S15).Accordingly, the user may move and arrange the selected icon to thedefault home screen (S17).

As described above, according to the foregoing exemplary embodiments ofthe present disclosure, when an icon is moved to a specific area, thewhole home screen to which a specific application icon displayed on amenu screen is movable may be displayed, and an icon-movable positionmay be visually guided on each home screen, which may allow for movementand arrangement of the icon within the home screen in an easy,convenient manner.

Further, in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure,the method can be implemented as computer-readable codes in aprogram-recorded medium. The computer-readable medium may include alltypes of recording devices each storing data readable by a computersystem. Examples of such computer-readable media may include ROM, RAM,CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, optical data storage element and thelike. Also, the computer-readable medium may also be implemented as aformat of carrier wave (e.g., transmission via an Internet). Thecomputer may include the controller 180 of the mobile terminal.

The configurations and methods of the mobile terminal in the aforesaidembodiments may not be limitedly applied, but such embodiments may beconfigured by a selective combination of all or part of the embodimentsso as to implement many variations.

As the present features may be embodied in several forms withoutdeparting from the characteristics thereof, it should also be understoodthat the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of thedetails of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, butrather should be construed broadly within its scope as defined in theappended claims, and therefore all changes and modifications that fallwithin the metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalents of such metesand bounds are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mobile terminal, comprising: a touchscreen; anda controller configured to: cause the touchscreen to display a firsthome screen, wherein the first home screen is one of a plurality of homescreens displayable on the touchscreen, and wherein each home screen ofthe plurality of home screens includes a plurality of application icons;cause the touchscreen to display a home screen editing screen inresponse to an input received with regard to a first application iconamong the plurality of application icons, wherein the home screenediting screen comprises a control region and a home screen region;cause the touchscreen to display, in the home screen region, a pluralityof preview home screens individually representing one of the pluralityof home screens, and wherein each of the plurality of preview homescreens includes icons each representing a corresponding applicationicon included in an associated home screen among the plurality of homescreens; cause the touchscreen to display a candidate icon in one of theplurality of preview home screens when the plurality of preview homescreens are displayed, wherein the candidate icon is visually differentfrom the first application icon; change displayed location of thecandidate icon in any of four directions within any of the plurality ofpreview home screens, or among different screens of the plurality ofpreview home screens, according to a drag input in a corresponding oneof the four directions received with regard to the first applicationicon within the control region, wherein location of the candidate iconwithin a particular preview home screen of the plurality of preview homescreens indicates a position at which the first application icon is tobe displayed within a home screen that is associated with the particularpreview home screen; associate the first application icon with a homescreen that is associated with the particular preview home screen inaccordance with the drag input extending from the control region towithin the particular preview home screen; and generate a new homescreen, and associate the first application icon with the new homescreen, in accordance with the drag input extending from the controlregion to the home screen region at an empty region that does notinclude any of the plurality of preview home screens.
 2. The mobileterminal of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of home screens islarger than an associated one of the plurality of preview home screens.3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the control region isincluded on an upper region of the home screen editing screen and thehome screen region is included on a lower region of the home screenediting screen.
 4. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the fourdirections are left, right, up, and down.
 5. A home screen settingmethod for a mobile terminal having a touchscreen, the methodcomprising: displaying, on the touchscreen, a first home screen, whereinthe first home screen is one of a plurality of home screens displayableon the touchscreen, and wherein each home screen of the plurality ofhome screens includes a plurality of application icons; displaying, onthe touchscreen, a home screen editing screen in response to an inputreceived with regard to a first application icon among the plurality ofapplication icons, wherein the home screen editing screen comprises acontrol region and a home screen region; displaying, on the touchscreen,in the home screen region, a plurality of preview home screensindividually representing one of the plurality of home screens, andwherein each of the plurality of preview home screens includes iconseach representing a corresponding application icon included in anassociated home screen among the plurality of home screens; displaying,on the touchscreen, a candidate icon in one of the plurality of previewhome screens when the plurality of preview home screens are displayed,wherein the candidate icon is visually different from the firstapplication icon; changing a displayed location of the candidate icon inany of four directions within any of the plurality of preview homescreens, or among different screens of the plurality of preview homescreens, according to a drag input in a corresponding one of the fourdirections received with regard to the first application icon within thecontrol region, wherein location of the candidate icon within aparticular preview home screen of the plurality of preview home screensindicates a position at which the first application icon is to bedisplayed within a home screen that is associated with the particularpreview home screen; associating the first application icon with a homescreen that is associated with the particular preview home screen inaccordance with the drag input extending from the control region towithin the particular preview home screen; and generating a new homescreen, and associating the first application icon with the new homescreen, in accordance with the drag input extending from the controlregion to the home screen region at an empty region that does notinclude any of the plurality of preview home screens.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, wherein each of the plurality of home screens is larger than anassociated one of the plurality of preview home screens.
 7. The methodof claim 5, wherein the control region is included on an upper region ofthe home screen editing screen and the home screen region is included ona lower region of the home screen editing screen.
 8. The method of claim5, wherein the four directions are left, right, up, and down.